CHRYSALIS

CHRYSALIS - Text written by Raphaël Mège

We can easily observe the caterpillar and the butterfly. The attention of Ana Tornel is however drawn by the pupa, one of the most spectacular stages of mutation that nature offers. Her nymphs are human because our live is curd pupae, periods of changes of all kinds, physical and psychological.

Beyond the adolescence, where we pass from childhood to adult age, our chrysalises are those states of doubt, stress or disruption. Their apparent fragility hide powerful forces, sometimes violent, resulting which is unknown to us beforehand.

The photographer tries to capture the almost incessant struggle in which soul and matter face. While observing the body poses thru the lens, she attempts to reveal the spirit living inside. This operation occurs smoothly, in complicity and harmony with the model, who stop being model to become himself.

Chrysalis comes to symbolize the work of Ana Tornel and this ephemeral chemistry that develops between her, her subject and the wet collodion technique. Even when perfectly mastered, this process is able to impose its law to the photographer, shoot down her certainties and propose a brand-new experience on unfamiliar terrain. Sometimes is precisely these accidents, away from the preconceived image, that make the subject appear the way it is.